Long interconnects or long speaker cables?

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Pure_Carbon

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I'm in rented accommodation so can't do anything with the room layout.
I currently have my monoblocks on the floor just behind each speaker with about 1m of speaker cable each.
The interconnects between pre and powers are 3m , custom made by Origin Live for me.
I am wondering though if I should go for longer speaker runs and shorter interconnects?
 
I'd stick with what you have. I assume your ICs are well shielded and you hear no hiss or noise?
 
In my experience it depends on the cables used.
You are not talking mega distances...
A well screen good quality cable (something like HT100 satellite signal cable) could work for either. That's what that cable is for - shooting a low V signal over a long distance - from Dish to receiver. I like the way they sound in my hifi made up as interconnects.
I would tend to go for longer speaker cable runs (how long are we talking about?) but I've only compared 5m of usual expensive Hifi shop cable against UBYTE-2 (type that into google to find out how to make it).
I then compared 5m of UBYTE-2 against 10m and the difference was negliable / inaudible.
I found UBYTE-2 a significant step up from what my Hifi shop could supply me to test at home and a lot cheaper.
HT100 os OFC and I guess the way the signal is carried paired between a solid core and the screen means it transmits the complex 30-50V AC signal tot eh speakers better than simple paired cable over longer distances... Certainly sounded that.

You can get HT100 on ebay for sensible money / lengths.
 
Tenson said:
I'd stick with what you have. I assume your ICs are well shielded and you hear no hiss or noise?
Click to expand...

If I *really* crank the amp up (with no music playing) there is a bit of a hum near maximum volume, but that's way above normal listening levels.
The interconnects are Origin Live Ultra 's
http://www.interconnect-cables.com/ultra-interconnect.htm
in a pair of 3m runs.

I was concerned as I remember reading somewhere to keep the interconnects as short as was possible.
 
I've been told independently by two separate dealers that with monoblocks it's better to have short speaker cables with long interconnects. Apparently there are good technical reasons for this configuration being preferable. It seems to work better that way round for me. I don't know the technical explanation though – it would be nice to know…
 
If the hiss comes only when the volume is cranked up then it is getting in before the interconnects to the power-amps. No worries there.

Shorter speaker cables keep low series resistance that allows the amp to have better control over the bass cone. Its called damping factor, and it goes down significantly as series resistance between amp and speaker cone rises. Not that it is much of an issue with decently thick cables and the shortish runs in a domestic setting, but if you want to be picky...
 
Thanks.
I was concerned that my 3m interconnects were longer than many would find acceptable, but seems not to be an issue.
Sometimes we *find* things to worry about when there isn't any reason to !

This weekend it's time to deal with the "spaghetti" at the rear of the HiFi, too many interconnects, power leads etc criss crossing each other, which I've heard is VERY bad ;)
 
Criss-crossing is better than running parallel, there is less area for noise to interact between the cables. Low level interconnect signal cables bing nowhere near mains leads is even better, though.

If you can, try to keep mains cables on one side of the rack and audio cables on the other, crossing only where you have to, and at 90degrees to the mains cables.
 
if they have to cross try to do it at 90 deg ......

I'm a long ic short spk cable adherent too ...
 
Maybe it's just a matter of damping factor, but I'd be surprised. With long IC, and short spk cables my system is more energised and dynamic. Maybe spk cables simply degrade the music signal more than ICs so the shorter the better. The guy from Absolute Sounds told me I could have at least 8 meters (or more!) of IC between pre and monos with no problems.
 
Thats generally what a well controlled driver sounds like, just listen to an active system where there is nothing in the way of the amp and driver.
 

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